Food

Why Steaming my Kale is an Act of Self-Discipline with Love.

For years, I took the stance that eating raw kale couldn’t possibly be bad for my thyroid. For that matter, eating anything RAW couldn’t be “bad” for my over-all health. That was an absurd notion.

As time went on, I began asking myself the question that I ask most of my clients, “what is your goal Amy?” Well, one of MY goals is reversing my thyroid issues, and healing my body. I have two thyroid conditions at this point, Hashimoto’s (which I consider to be “reversed” or really close to it, it’s only a matter of time before all of my antibody numbers are in the normal range, and Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease where the body is attacking the thyroid gland, that could be a whole other blog post), and Hypothyroidism (my body doesn’t make enough thyroid stimulating hormone).

So I began thinking about 8 weeks ago, why would I NOT steam my kale before putting it in my green power smoothie in the morning? My self-talk for years was “I don’t have enough time.” And the story I would tell myself is the one I stated above, “That was an absurd notion.” The science seems to be very clear that the goitrogens can affect thyroid health however there is now new evidence about what actually causes a GOITER.

“It is a myth passed around in the alternative health community that goitrogens cause a goiter, which is an enlargement of the thyroid gland. As Dr. Kharrazian points out in his most recent article, goiters are not caused by iodine deficiency or by eating goitrogens – they are caused by the inflammation from chronic autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto’s). In order to get rid of a goiter, a person needs to address the autoimmune thyroid disease, not remove goitrogens from their diet.”

I am currently working with MY new idea “the lost art of self-discipline with love”. So I am practicing it now by steaming my kale before I add it to my smoothie in the morning. I LOVE myself enough to do this one easy step, which might make a huge difference in my overall health in the future.

That’s one thing about health issues, there are no absolutes. I have found on my health journey for the last 16 years I must use myself as a guinea pig to test things out, see if they work for me. I’m kind of excited about this whole “steam the kale” idea. I’ll also be steaming or roasting any other cruciferous vegetables that I eat like Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli, instead of putting them in my salads raw. I love myself enough to do this EASY step. Why wouldn’t I?

Self-discipline has gotten a bad reputation for many years. And when I ask people how they do with self-discipline they usually respond “oh I can’t do that”, followed by an uneasy laugh, like they know they should but they don’t or can’t or won’t. OR maybe they just don’t know how? I choose to look at self-discipline now as an extreme form of self-care. I love myself enough to do what it takes to make myself as healthy as possible. That is my job and my responsibility when I chose this body I was born into. This physical body is my house for my spirit. The world sees my spirit through this physical body. I believe we all need to practice self-discipline with love to help us live our best lives.